Like many CC readers I’m sure, I am a fan of Lancia cars, and after many years I finally made it to the Lancia Register rally which is held in the Victorian country town of Castlemaine every two years.

For the first article on this impressive gathering I will start with the newer cars and progress backwards; ok, this is because I will need to do some more research on the older and more obscure models, but that is a good a reason as any! Anyway, here is the newest car there, a 1993 Delta HF Evoluzione.

The badges on the rear (decal on rear window, badge on tailgate) are not shy about informing you about Lanica’s rallying success, as was seen on Lotuses and Jaguars during their heyday in F1 and Le Mans, respectively.

With such motorsport success these cars are revered and have a dedicated following which is why quite a few have been brought to Australia and converted to RHD when they were relatively young as was the case with the example above.

Speaking of right-hand drive, here is the interior of the Beta LX that was on display. Note the plastic is still on the door trims, with holes adjacent the grab handles – surely at some point you have to let go?

This is the engine bay of the LX – the HF’s had their bonnets closed! I gather the engines for the standard versions like this are based on Fiat’s smaller 1300-1600 cc SOHC 4-cylinder engines, revised by Lancia with different intakes & exhausts. There was a 1600 cc twin-cam GT version as well as a HF Turbo. The 4wd HF and HF Integrale had a 2.0 L DOHC Turbo, with power rising from 163-212 hp (121-158 kW) as development progressed from 1986 to 1993.

Because Lancia stopped selling cars in Australia back in the mid-1980’s with the Beta, and sold only Betas officially in its last 10 years, all of these newer models are private imports. That explains why I’d never seen a Lancia Thema sedan before that was not the special Ferrari-engined 8.32 model; after all if you are going to the expense and trouble of importing a car, there needs to be a reason! This one is from before the 1992 facelift, and has the 2.0 turbo which is not a bad option being essentially the same engine as the Delta HF Integrale. The shape of the doors of the Group Four car (Saab 9000/Fiat Croma/Alfa Romeo 164) are distinctive.

On the point of the lower-spec cars being overlooked, I had better not forget to include a photo of the Delta LX mentioned earlier. Without the flared wheel arches of the rally homologation cars it is still a sharp-looking car.

The Gamma Coupe is arguably one of the worst Lancias, having a few fairly significant teething issues, most notably a habit of shredding one of the timing belts and thus destroying its 2.5L flat-four engine when at full steering lock. It is not the most elegant design I’ve ever seen either, but does have a presence, and some interesting styling if nothing else. I doubt the few owners in Australia use their cars very often outside of Lancia club events; not that there is anything wrong with that!

On the other hand this 1981 Beta HPE is the (female) owner’s only car. The HPE combined the front styling of the coupe with the longer sedan wheelbase (100 in/2540 mm) and a unique shooting brake-style rear end. The roofline errs on the side of practicality over a sleeker fastback style, but I’m sure it makes for a more liveable car.

Next door was another private import, the Zagato-built (but still Pininfarina-designed) Spyder. The first glance at the ‘basket handle’ on this car will tell you it was developed during the early seventies when it seemed like convertible cars would be legislated away.

At this point I must include a ‘normal’ Beta coupe, if only to show the front end that I’ve referred to with the previous two cars. Almost the full gamut actually, complete with proof that they are not all red!

Here is a slightly closer look, this time a (non-red) 1982 HPE, wearing its original registration plate that indicates continuous registration from new. Judging by appearances, the car looks to be a well-cared for original, and I would not be surprised if it still has its original owner too.

Note the engine leans rearwards 20 degrees instead of the forward angle of the Delta, which must improve weight distribution. The first Betas we received in Australia in 1974 had the 1800 cc engine, and from 1976 this was replaced by a 2-litre. In other markets smaller engines were available, along with fuel injection from 1980 and a supercharged option that only gained 10% more power, from 1982-84. The engine was based on the Fiat DOHC engine but with a new cylinder head and different engine mounting points on the block to suit the transverse installation.

Here is an interior photo, albeit with a more modern aftermarket head unit and seat covers.

The Beta spun off another variant though, one that may be more familiar to US audiences under the Scorpion name although the rest of the world knew it as the Montecarlo. This was a mid-engined car featuring the Beta driveline.

The body was different enough to require a unique interior, that is a study in late-70s blockiness or in architectural terms Cubism.

Here is the rear view, where you may compare the rear of the Beta Coupe. As an aside, I don’t think a single Beta at the Rally had steel wheels, with the vast majority wearing the type shown above.

You may have realised that I had not yet featured the Beta sedan or Berlina that first launched the car in 1972, a year ahead of the Coupe. That is because although it likely was the highest selling body style overall, I doubt that was the case in Australia because the Coupe was offered for longer and certainly 30-40 years later the coupes and particularly the HPE’s have a much higher survival rate.

Personally I like the style of the Berlina, even if it is not the hatchback that the fastback roofline hints at. Like the Citroen GS or CX, early Alfa Romeo Alfasud or even Century/Cutlass Aerobacks it has a separate trunk lid. Unlike some of the others, this was not to change over the model run.

I will leave it at that for now, and next time we will go further back in time to the pre-Fiat days and the 1960s.

What a great way to start my Saturday, thanks! I love Lancia’s and one of the highlights of the Lane when I went last year was when they let me sit in their Delta HF Integrale. At which point I was dismayed to find that I was too tall for it! But at least it put a damper on my incessant search to find one to import… 🙂

Lancia’s are quite rare over here in the US, but there are (random) sightings. There was a pair of Monte Carlo’s that always made it to the Monterey Historics back in the 90’s and my parents Realtor in the early 80’s had a Zagato Spyder, which has to qualify as one of the least practical cars for a Realtor to use….

Looking forward (or is that backward) for the next installment rearward in time!

Very excitingly the Beta range gained a notch-back version in 1980, called the Trevi. That meant “tre volumi” and wasn’t a reference to the Trevi fountain in Rome. So, Lancia had a sedan that looked like a hatchback and a conventional sedan. The Trevi’s interior is worth a look, styled by architect Mario Bellini who also did a striking special edition of the Fiat 132. Google it or read the Wikipedia entry which is extensive. In 1982 Lancia brought back supercharging to mainstream cars. That was the Trevi 2000 Volumex. It had more low end torque but used more fuel and had a lower top speed. The Trevi got rave reviews for its steering (LJK Setright) but also its lift-off oversteer.https://driventowrite.com/2013/11/03/1980-lancia-trevi-review/

As an American, seeing a Lancia in the states borders between once in a blue moon when all the stars align and all the planets are in order, and totally non existent. So, seeing these Lancias here is a pretty welcome sight to see, I certainly would prefer to see Lancias to more bloody Mustangs and Camaros at car shows. (I did see one Lancia, an 037 Stradale that was in a car museum in Las Vegas, which was pretty damn cool.)

Out of all these cars, the Monte Carlo, the Stratos may be my favorite Lancia, but as far as passenger cars the Monte Carlo is king. I disagree with you on the Gamma Coupe though, I always liked the styling of it in it’s own subtle way. From a mechanical standpoint, its terrible, but I still think the styling holds up pretty well.

In the mid-nineties my then-boss drove a Lancia Dedra station wagon. The Dedra was the sedan version of the Delta II hatchback. I remember that its interior gave you that “rich” feeling, so completely different than a VW Golf or Ford Escort (all of them were C-segment cars / compacts). It was dark blue, like the one below.

My Geordie friend who is into air cooled VWs tells me he had an Integrale turbo great car fast and fun but hard to keep gearboxes in, they are quite brittle mechanically if you daily drive them especially if you drive em hard and expensive to repair even in the UK where they were more common, still I like em.

I will always and forever be thankful for the way Lancia made their cars, in a production line that would be as far removed from Lean Management as one could possibly imagine. One platform for the Berlina, shortened and with a completely new body for the Coupe and the Spyder. The sedan chassis for the HPE, but with the Coupe front and lower roofline. And a completely new platform for the Monte Carlo.

The only commonality I can see is that the front is shared between the Coupe, Spyder, and HPE. the rest is truly unique for each variation. They have nothing in common, not even rear lights. They all have unique rear lights for every version. All in all for something that couldn’t have been produced in more than ten to fifty thousand cars per year. I have no idea about production numbers, but I’d bet it’s in the lower teens for everything but the Berlina.

Though, I wonder about the Spyder? The rear looks very much like a Zagato design to me. Even if Pininfarina was responsible for the Coupe, I wonder if not the conversion to Spyder was both designed and built by Zagato. It has different rear lights, and a different rear end to the Coupe. While both the Coupe and HPE has a more abrupt cut off to a Kamm tail, the Spyder has a chamfer going around the rear, making the side creases a continuous line from the side to the rear to the other side. It looks Zagato to me, but I really don’t know…

Wikipedia also says the Coupe and HPE was in-house designs by Castagno and Castagnero, while the Spyder was a Pininfarina design but built by Zagato. It says Pininfarina helped with the conversion of the Berlina to the Trevi, and that the Montecarlo was an original Pininfarina design. But who designed the Berlina? Was that an in-house design?

Lancia have still won more World Rally Championships than any manufacturer by a long way , Subaru etc have rather unsuccessful if you look at race wins.
Only Peugeot 5 and Citroen 8 are in the count. Lancia10.
Lancia never make ordinary cars and their engineering more than clever.
The cars are a delight that few will know and understand, built to a quality regardless.
It has always been a mixture of innovative design, haute couture and performance, this is the Lancia bloodline.

I think the Montecarlo (not Monte Carlo) has aged incredibly well over the years. I do prefer the very early cars though, with solid steel rear sail panels as opposed to the later cars that substituted glass:

It’s a small miracle that Lancia made it to the second decade of this century. Probably won’t be around much longer: only the Ypsilon soldiers on in 2016, and it’s only sold as a Lancia in Italy. Probably for the best, considering the Chrysler-derived atrocities of recent years, e.g. the Thema, which when I saw in the metal in Europe a few years ago almost made me want to cry…

The red Delta HF Evoluzione brings back some memories. Back in 1993 I travelled over to Perth to watch the Australian round of the World Rally Championship. A Delta HF Evoluzione was entered in Jolly Club colours for Carlos Sainz and Luis Moya – it looked and sounded fantastic!

I had a series II HPE 2000ie, and as you say in the article, the long roofline meant that it was a very practcal car. I bought a fullsized dishwasher from a cheap London outlet that wouldn’t deliver so I had to pick it up. It went in the back of the HPE very easily even in all its original freight packaging. I loved that car, but wasn’t enamoured with its propensity to blow head gaskets every two years or so. Drove four of us all round souhern Ireland for a week very comfortably and had driven down the M4 at up to 120mph fully laden because we thought we were going to miss the ferry.

Sadly the Beta Saloon, and to a lesser extent the Coupe, suffered severe corrosion problems in the British climate which destroyed their reputation and resulted in Lancia withdrawing from the UK market. By this time Lancia were no longer independent and were based on Fiat underpinnings, but they were still more interesting than Fiats.

Like the latter-day Saabs that were based of GM platforms, I gather Lancia diverged quite a bit from the original base. Especially so in the Beta – what Fiat was it based on? Comparably-sized Fiats of the day (124) were still rear-wheel drive.

Great selection John. New Zealand got Lancias new until the mid-90s – ours were UK-spec, so when the UK stopped taking them, we did too by default. One of NZ’s largest Lancia specialists is based near when I live, but I don’t often see any on the road any more. The Thema was always my favourite of the Type Four cars, and an 8.32 would be great!

I’ve seen a number of late model Lancias while visiting Europe in the last three years, and the Ypsilon and gen3 Delta 2014 are both fabulous-looking inside and out – I’m not sure what the target market was, but I clearly fit it lol! It’s a shame that after years of interesting cars, Lancia seems destined to become Italy’s Saab, and the photos above really highlight what was and what could have been.